From the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Facebook Page…

Researchers from the T. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard recently scoured data from a study done by the Work, Family and Health Network involving direct care workers at 30 nursing homes spread throughout New England. Some of the findings are not exactly encouraging news for folks hurt at work.

First, the study noted that federal and state statutes which are supposed to provide financial and monetary support to injured workers, and to protect them from termination, are not always followed by employers.

The study also showed that workers injured on the job were 30% more likely to be out of that job within six months, as compared to comparable workers who did not suffer injuries at work.

Additionally, the study found that people who were injured multiple times were more likely to leave their jobs than uninjured colleagues – which stands to reason. Folks don’t like to work at jobs where they get hurt a lot and oftentimes employers fail to implement necessary safety precautions to prevent continuing injuries.

Peter Smith, a researcher at the Institute for Work and Health at the University of Toronto noted that “Work is not supposed to lead to injury. Measures must be put in place to ensure that employers do not fire or discipline workers because they have a work-related injury.” Well said.